Children of the Corn Ii: The Final Sacrifice

“Based on a short story by Stephen King”, Corn II drags that poor pop-culture stylist's already tarnished name through the mud and gore once again, as if anybody dared to expect differently. Picking up where the previous travesty left off, new director David Price (also responsible for last year's grating Son of Darkness II: To Die For -- he seems to be making a name for himself in the spotty field of Bad Roman Numeral Films) tackles the shopworn themes of evil children and familial reconciliation with equal parts libertine goofiness and senseless overkill. As in the first film, formerly innocent children in America's maize-infested heartland are transforming into soulless little killers, intent on murdering their parents for the good of the corn and, of course, He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Into this rapidly escalating corn-spiracy step tabloid journalist John Garrett (Knox) and his estranged son Danny (Scherrer), intent on grabbing this one big rep-saving scoop. Never mind the fact that the town offspring have been looking more and more like a bunch of Bette Davis fans gone bad (I kept waiting for their eyes to start glowing like those of the tots in Village of the Damned, to no avail). Also along for the ride are a pair of female love interests for our leads and, oddly enough, a sage old Native American university professor, who seems to be the only one smart enough to figure out exactly what's going on around the town (“Koyaanisqatsi,” he grimly intones). Despite a great 15-second, computer-generated effects scene, Corn II manages to be 90-odd minutes of unrelenting cheese. Like runny Brie with blood all over it, it just makes you want to gag.